An Unprecedented Variable
by HowCanIsleepIfIDontHaveDreams
Summary: "I don't trust you." "You don't have many options here, either fall to your death or take my hand." He was right, she did not have much of a choice. She took a risk that could cost her the promise she had made to her sister when she reached for Cato's outstretched hand.
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

A sense of doom surrounded the well decorated walls of the hallway that would lead him one step closer to his imminent death. He knew from the beginning that his job would one day lead to his demise, he just hadn't expected that it would come so soon. Two years, four months, three weeks, and five days was the amount of time that had transpired since he was offered the job as Head Gamemaker and Head of Security; an offer you don't refuse no matter who you are. He remembered the exact date because it was a moment that changed his life. He went from being a simple techie following the orders of the Head Gamemaker to the one calling the shots. One does not forget days with such significance.

To be a Gamemaker you have to be extraordinarily creative, ruthless, and have a quick mind for problem solving. There are traits he had that showed he had great promise from early on in his career. These trademarks were essential for a person to possess as Head of Security. It made sense that the creative mind behind the Hunger Games would also be the head of the nation's security and that is why he found himself in this position. He should be honored to hold such an important and coveted position, instead all Seneca Crane could feel was dread.

Crane had orchestrated two splendid editions of the Hunger Games that were praised, admired, and were all the audience (mostly those in district one and two) could talk about. He was a success when it came to the Games, but he was a failure when it came to ensuring the security of Panem and now he would surely pay for his ineptitude.

It was only appropriate that the destination that he had been heading toward ended with a blood red door that once he stepped through would reveal his future. He poised his hand to knock, but he hesitated for a moment before he did. Crane took a breath to calm himself and knocked. Two guards greeted him with a cold detached manner that was common among Panem's security guards.

"Identification," the guard replied in a monotonous tone. It did not matter that both guards knew perfectly well who he was. It was their job to protect the President and no one, even a person in a high position as himself, was exempt from the security measures imposed on anyone who wished to see President Snow.

He turned to the second guard who held the retina scanner. Once the scanner confirmed his identity the guards led him to a second door, this one was white.

"Crane, do you have an update on the situation?" Snow cut straight to the heart of the matter, he was not a man who enjoyed pleasantries. The president's back was turned toward him. He was looking out the window that faced his rose gardens.

Crane cleared his throat, "There has been another security breach." The president turned sharply to face him with an expression full of cold anger that made Crane flinch, "This time they targeted the weapons production factories."

"They dared to come so close to the Capitol? These…traitors are getting bolder and I don't like it!" Snow's cold anger turned into a cold calculating expression. This expression was worse as it meant he was ready to condemn. This time the recipient of the judgment to come would be Crane. Snow will easily condemn those who wrong him if their proposal for a solution does not satisfy him.

"I have been working to tighten security, just last week I had sent out three dozen guards to District 4, who has recently been one of the most unruly districts. I…"

"I do not care how much you have tightened security if they are failing to stop these traitors. I want results not excuses." He walked closer to Seneca, "Give me results or I will find someone who can."

"President I do have a proposition that I believe could stop these traitor's actions." Crane informed him hesitantly this proposition was his attempt to keep his job and his life.

"Go on," the president gestured to him to keep going.

"I have noticed that the four districts that have been causing a lot of trouble have one thing in common; they are all districts that have not had a victor in many years. Perhaps these actions of rebellion are brought about by their desperation of having two of their own die year after year." Crane knew very well what losing someone could do to a person.

These breaches in security were minor and unrelated and as far as he could tell, these districts were not working together. How could they, the nation's security was at its best performance all thanks to his innovations in security strategies. The targets that the traitors hit did not connect in any evident way. He had made sure to look for any connections or any possible motivation for attacking the facilities that they targeted. The first assault had been in District 4 where a fishing boat had been robbed. Then a train from District Six had been derailed without authorization. Soon after, a shipment of agricultural goods from District 11 that was headed to the Capitol was incomplete. There was also the incident in District 12 where two people were caught trying to escape into the wilderness. He really had to do something about that electric fence. There were no connections between these events, they all happened in different districts at different times and they had been kept secret from the public. The only thing that he had recently noticed was that these districts, four, eleven, twelve, and six were districts that had not had a victor in a long time and for some it had been longer than the others.

"If we were to give each of these districts a victor it would placate their desire to lash out. They will be too busy celebrating their victors. We can make it a spectacle that they won't stop talking about for years. A spectacle is what the people crave."

"This is the 75th Hunger Games, the Quarter Quell, we _can_ change the rules. This is an opportunity to give each of these troublesome districts what they want, a victor," Crane said.

"Four victors that will bend to my will," Snow smiled.


	2. Chapter 1

AN: This chapter begins a few days into the games. I really hope people enjoy this story and reviews are loved.

**Chapter 1**

**Part 1: The Arena**

Every muscle in her body ached from the long hours of immobility. Earlier that day the Careers had discovered her location while she had been surveying her surroundings from on top of a tree. Ruthless killers are what the careers had been trained to become. She had heard them coming and became very still. Her assumption had been that they would walk right by her without noticing that she was above them. Katniss would have accomplished this if it hadn't been for Peeta.

The worst part of being cornered wasn't the aching muscles, but the sting of betrayal that burned in her chest at seeing Peeta, the guy that had confessed his love for her on national Television, with the careers. She had been so careful to be as still and quite as she could, but once she saw Peeta with them the shock had caused her to lose her footing for an instant. She had regained her balance quickly, but it had been too late, Peeta had looked up.

"Katniss," he called out surprised.

Immediately, every career turned their attention to Peeta. Cato was the first to notice the direction that his gaze was fixated on. Cato's eyes followed Peeta's and landed on her, his gaze was cold and unreadable. It had been obvious to her that he was their leader and they would listen to whatever he decided to do with their discovery of her location. Nothing in his eyes gave her any indication of what he would do next. He was a career, she had assumed that his first instinct would be to take the opportunity that she had provided them, with her carelessness and kill her. Instead Cato did something peculiar.

Though, Cato had not immediately resorted to violence his career lackeys had quickly aimed their weapons at her.

"Let me have her Cato, I know you said you wanted the hono…" Cato cut off Cloves remarks with a command to Glimmer, "use your arrows to bring her down, make sure to aim for the heart"

"Cato you can't be serious!" Clove exclaimed anger seeping out of her every pore.

"She can hardly use that thing. You've seen her use it, I on the other hand _never_ miss my mark" she emphasized her words by gracefully throwing a knife that she aimed at the tree Katniss was on. She had seen Cloves prowess at knife throwing in the training sessions before the games, she never missed her mark. It was clear that she had many years of experience that only those in the career districts could possess. On the other hand, she had never seen Glimmer training with an arrow.

"We all know how talented you are, but all of your targets are always at ground level" he had been irritated at being questioned, "Now tell me how you are planning on throwing that knife of yours all the way up there?" She huffed in anger and walked away from the careers.

"If you want me dead Cato maybe you should do it yourself" she called out in anger at the way that the Careers could discuss her death so candidly while she was up there afraid that this might be her last day. If there was one thing Katniss hate it was the feeling of being helpless. She was not about to die without putting up a fight she looked for a way out of her situation. There weren't many options. Fighting her way out was out of the question since there were eight of them and she could not jump to from tree to tree because every tree nearby were not at a jumping distance from the tree that she currently occupied. She was stuck, she had no weapons, and she was surrounded by trained killers

Cato turned to Glimmer expectantly and she took her bow and aimed. Her only option was to avoid the arrows and hope that she had terrible aim. When she saw Glimmers stance she knew that Clover was right Glimmer was no archer.

Katniss first assumption was proven right when Glimmers arrow missed its mark by a significant distance. Her second and third try did not improve. Glimmers frustration seemed comical to her, she could not believe that she had been afraid of being murdered by her. She smirked at Glimmer which only inflamed her anger. Glimmers frustration only served to worsen her aim.

Glimmer took aim once more, but before she released the arrow Cato stepped in front of her. He took the bow and arrow forcefully from her hands "That's enough." He turned took up a firing stance, Katniss noted that his stance was not half bad it was evident that to her that he had experience with a bow. He aimed and her smirk faded from her face. She was sure she would be dead soon. Again Cato surprised her. His arrow graced her ear and flew past her leaving her alive with only a minor injury to her ear. Katniss brought her hand up to inspect the damage.

"Maybe we should wait until she comes down. She can't stay up there forever" Cato put down the bow, turned to Peeta the one who had made the suggestion and the other careers and said "he's right we will have to wait her out, let's set up camp, Marvel you're on first watch" his orders were followed without question. Clove did not seem happy with this decision, but she didn't speak out.

She didn't understand why he gave up so easily when he had been inches from putting an arrow through her skull. That had occurred hours ago when the sun had still been out. Every few hours the careers would switch who was watching her. Currently it was Cloves turn to keep an eye on her. Katniss saw the hatred filled glares that she gave her every time she looked down at her captives. Clove was not happy that she wasn't dead yet and Katniss was not planning on making her happy any time soon. She had to find a way to get out of this situation.

Clove was relieved from watching her around midnight by Cato. Katniss watched their interaction from her vantage point.

"I'll take it from here." Clove got up from her post and aggressively walked past Cato in the process she bumped his shoulder.

She turned back and said, "I don't know who you think you are, but I do know that you are not the leader of my career group, I'm the only one who gives them orders. Got that?"

"Glimmer had the bow and arrows I was just asking for some assistance and last I checked we formed an alliance," Cato retorted.

"Yes, we have an alliance. However, it doesn't mean that you can give my group orders."

He smirked, "you've always craved power, and I'm not surprised you became a career pack leader."

"And what a pack I lead. It can't even be considered a true career pack anymore. I had to replace two from my original group with who else, but lover boy and a hardly useful boy from district 6" She moaned with frustration.

"Don't despair. You know you got a good deal when I traded you Glimmer for Peeta." Katniss was surprised by this.

"Glimmer can't even use a bow at least Peeta has strength," she told him.

"She is exceptional at hand to hand combat. She has the speed that makes up for strength."

"Know your team. You did learn something from the academy," she teased.

Clove left after that and Cato made himself comfortable on the ground. He looked up at her and caught her staring.

Katniss stared at him intently she wanted to know why he had not finished her off when it had been clear that he was able to. He was not bad with a bow and with a few more tries he would have hit his target she was sure of it. Cato had shown his prowess with a sword, but maybe he had hidden his archery skills to use as a secret weapon. In the games it was best to keep your opponents in the dark. That is how some winners had achieved victory in past Games. Careers for the most part did not miss the opportunity to showcase their skills. They never needed to surprise their victims they usually could win because they made alliances with other careers. Those that were not from district one, two, and three did not have the luxury of relying on years of training. That's why it did not make sense that he was a decent archer.

"Why didn't you kill me?" She inquired from him hoping to quench her curiosity. The careers wanted her dead, but maybe Cato had something more sinister in mind.

"I tried," was his brisk response. He looked away and started to sharpen his sword.

"Your archery skills aren't bad, I'm an archer myself I know a good aiming stance when I see one," she said.

"You are giving me too much credit I'm not very good with bows. My weapon is the sword," he said lifting up his sword as if it were proof that the sword was the only weapon he had mastered.

He went back to the task of sharpening his sword. She took the opportunity to study him while he was not looking at her. He had blond hair that reminded her of Peeta's, but his was different from Peeta's. Cato's was a pale blond and Peeta's was golden and bright. It seemed that everything about Cato was cold.

Katniss turned her gaze to the sky. She had to find a way out of this she had promised her sister she would return home. Katniss could not break that promise. As she was thinking about her home she spotted her escape. A Tracker Jacker nest.


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Tracker Jackers were nasty creatures that no sane person would ever want to go near, their venom caused severe hallucinations and was deadly in high doses. She guessed she was insane because her plan involved getting really close to the nest. She was planning on dropping it on the careers and Peeta. It will cause a distraction that will allow her to escape and she hoped she could escape with as few stings as possible. Now all she had to do was reach the branch where the nest rested.

Katniss decided that she would have to wait until an opportune time that would give her the advantage of surprise. It was almost day break when Cato got up from his guarding post. She saw that Glimmers approach had stirred Cato from his post. They were both facing away fromm her. While they were distracted talking to each other Katniss made her move toward the Tracker Jacker's nest. She moved as fast as she could without risking losing her balance and toppling down the tree. She took the nest gingerly in her hands, it had a rough texture, and she could hear the soft buzzing sound that the Tracker Jacker's that were inside made. She looked down to aim the nest at the two careers, but by the time that she had acquired the nest Cato had disappeared from her sight. Glimmer had taken over his position and was still facing away from her toward the career camp. Katniss needed to act fast or risk being seen with the nest by Glimmer. She aimed near Glimmer's feet, put as much force as she could, and threw the nest down.

Glimmer's scream was loud, filled with an agony that made her blood curl. Katniss only had time to see that the Tracker Jackers had swarmed out of their nest to surround Glimmer it only took a second for the Tracker Jacker's to take Glimmer down. Her climb down the tree was swift. She was hoping to get away from the scene relatively unharmed by the Tracker Jackers, but it was a futile hope. As soon as she touched the ground a Jacker stung her hand. The pain was intense and she was sure that she had never before in her life experienced physical pain such as this. However, there was no time to nurse her injury. She had decided to head toward the river, but something that Glimmer's lifeless body was holding caught her attention and even though there was still an alarming amount of Tracker Jacker's near her body Katniss quickly reached for the bow, after all it was her weapon of choice. Katniss received another sting for her efforts, this time on her neck. She was about to make a run for it when she heard the careers making their way to the scene to investigate why one of their team members had screamed. They were in for a surprise and hopefully some fatal stings.

As she was turning to run she caught a glimpse of Cato and heard him shout, "Everyone stop! There's Tracker Jacker's! Run!" their eyes met and she wasn't sure if he was telling her or them.

Katniss started to franticly make her way to the river. She could still hear the buzzing of the Tracker Jacker's nearby. Her attempt at putting as much distance as she could between herself the careers and the Tracker Jacker's was hampered by the effects of the Tracker Jacker's venom taking their toll on her. The venom made her vision blur and it was slowing her down. She almost hit a tree because her running was starting to become clumsy.

She hit the floor, tripping over her own feet. She could hardly develop a coherent thought. The pain made it hard to move, but she knew that she had to. She lifted her head up with great difficulty. Katniss noticed that she had fallen close to a bush. Katniss became tense when she heard footsteps heading her way. Three people stopped right in front of her line of vision they were far enough in front of her that they did not notice her presence and the bush and trees were keeping her hidden from their view. She tried to focus her vision to see who they were. They were three males, two were blond and one was a brunet. Then she recognized that one of them was Peeta and the other two were Cato and Marvel. It seemed that they had stopped to argue amongst themselves. All three of them were sporting several stings from the Tracker Jacker's, but it didn't stop them from arguing. Marvel looked the most hostile and Peeta looked ready to bolt at any moment. Cato looked calm, but his eyes were a pure ice that could freeze you in an instant and they were completely focused on Marvel.

Her vision was starting to blur once again and the world seemed to be spinning. Katniss did not think that she could keep herself conscious long enough to find out what was happening between the careers and Peeta. Her mind became fuzzy and the last thing she was able to see before she passed out was Marvel drawing his ax.

* * *

Katniss woke up alarmed, "Peeta!"

She looked around and noticed that she was not hiding behind a bush, in fact there were no bushes anywhere. Then she noticed that there was a wet substance on her neck and her arm. She looked at her arm and grabbed at her neck to find that there was a deep green substance on her. It looked like it was a wet and mushed up leaf.

"It helps with the Tracker Jacker's venom, it's a remedy that I learned in my district. My name is Rue by the way." A small girl that could not be any older than twelve informed her.

Rue was one of the four tributes from district eleven. She remembered seeing her during their training before the games. She had left an impression on Katniss because she reminded her of her sister, but Katniss had not thought of her since the games had begun. They seemed to be about the same age and Katniss couldn't stand to know that someone so young had to suffer through these games.

"Do you have any water?" she asked her hopeful that she did because her throat felt extremely dry.

"Yes, of course," she took out a flask and handed it to Katniss. She greedily gulped down halve the water that the flask contained.

When she was done she remembered that Peeta had been in trouble before she had passed out, "Have you seen Peeta?" and then added, "He's a blond boy…" The girl cut her off before she could continue describing him.

"He's over there," she pointed behind Katniss, "Peeta went back to sleep just a few minutes ago. He needs to save his strength."

"Why? Is he hurt?" She tried to get up, but her head and her every muscle protested.

Rue put her hand on her shoulder, "calm down he was injured, but I helped him as best as I could. Right now he needs rest and you do too. Surviving a Tracker Jacker's sting is not something easy. You and your friends got lucky."

"Friends?" Katniss asked confused by the plural.

"Your other blond friend was injured very badly too," she told me.

Katniss stood up and this time she fought through her pain because the girl had said another blond and the only other blond that had been with Peeta was a killer. She saw two limp forms close to each other when she turned in the direction that the Rue had pointed when she had asked about Peeta's whereabouts. She stalked over to Cato's unconscious form. He was pale, his whole body was shaking, and he was sweating. He looked very vulnerable, that wasn't a word that she ever thought that she would use to describe Cato, but the way he looked right now fit the adjective. It was obvious to her that he had a fever. She noticed that Rue had tended to his wounds. She was impressed by her work though it was by no means comparable to what Katniss mom could have done even with her mom's limited resources. He sported a gash on his forehead that wasn't deep enough for stitches. His arm looked in bad shape. There were bandages full of blood that Katniss removed from his arm in order to inspect the full damage. Once she had removed them she saw that there was a large gash that ran down from his elbow to his wrist.

His skin was kept together by some crude form of stitches, "How were you able to stitch his arm?"

"I took the threading from my sweater and fashioned a needle out of a bone from a squirrel that I had caught for lunch." Rue came over to where Katniss was crouching down besides Cato's unconscious body. "I should probably cleanout his wound."

Katniss reached for Rue's arm effectively stopping her from reaching for her water container. Rue turned her attention to her with a questioning expression on her face. "Cato isn't our friend. He is one of the careers that want me and Peeta dead. Careers aren't friendly they will kill us the first chance they get, especially him," she said pointing at Cato.

"I don't understand if he isn't your friend then why did he protect Peeta from the boy with the ax?" Rue asked her.

Katniss couldn't believe what Rue was telling her. There was no way that Cato would protect Peeta from his fellow career.

"Tell me exactly what you saw."

"I was up on a tree, on the lookout to avoid other tributes, when I heard screaming and running. I stopped and tried to be really quiet to avoid being caught. I thought that there had been a tribute confrontation, but then I saw you stumble below the tree that I was hiding on. You didn't look in good shape. I heard the buzzing of Tracker Jacker's. I can recognize that sound in my sleep because in my district we are taught to look out for them while we work in the fields." She paused and then continued.

"Then I saw three boys running fast toward us. They stopped running really close to us, but they couldn't see us and they didn't look good either. I could see that Peeta had a huge swell on his arm and the other two boys had several swells from the Tracker Jacker's stings. They were arguing because the boy with the ax,"

"Marvel," she interjected.

"Well that boy, Marvel, wanted to kill Peeta, but the other one,"

"Cato"

"Cato defended Peeta. He told Marvel that they needed him alive, but Marvel got really angry and attacked Peeta with his ax. He injured his leg and that was all the damage he was able to cause because Cato tackled him and they started to wrestle there was a lot of punching and kicking. Cato was trying to take the ax away from Marvel and he succeeded. The ax flung from Marvel's hands, but then when they had separated they both ran to get the ax. Marvel was faster and he swung the ax at Cato and gave him that nasty cut on his arm. They were both in bad shape because of the Tracker Jacker's venom, but they kept fighting until they all passed out just like you did. Marvel passed out first. Cato really looked like he wanted to save Peeta. Before he passed out he tried to help Peeta with his injury, but he was too weak to be very helpful" Rue finished recounting the events.

Cato had said that they needed Peeta alive that meant that he thought that Peeta was still useful for whatever plans he had.

"I decided to get all of you to a safer area and treat your injuries. Which was really hard, you people weigh a lot! It only took Peeta two day to regain consciousness. He could hardly focus because he was in a lot of pain." Rue told her.

"For how long was I unconscious?" she asked horrified at the idea that she could have been unconscious for more than a day while the game continued.

"Three days, but don't worry I have taken really good care of all of you. I keep a look out for other tributes and all." Rue tried to reassure her sensing Katniss's alarm.

Katniss was still reeling from the news. She could see that Rue was really trying to ease her nerves, but there was no way that she would stay in this place any longer. Constantly moving was the only way to avoid being surprised by the other tributes. Having the upper hand was crucial and she wasn't going to make it easy for anyone to kill her. She had to get to a better location that would give her a strategic advantage. Assessing her surroundings she saw that they were in an area that hardly had any trees to cover them. There was a small swamp area and beyond the swamp there was higher ground that led to an area that was densely covered with trees.

Their current location wouldn't do they had to move, but Peeta didn't look like he was in a well enough condition to make the trek to a new location.

"Rue do you think you could help me move Peeta. We need to find a better location to hideout while Peeta and I recover."

"What about Cato? We can't leave him, he helped Peeta." She informed her sticking her chin up in the air defiantly as if daring her to contradict her.

"He's a career, careers aren't good people. I'm sure he only helped Peeta because it would somehow benefit him, not because he's a selfless hero."

"I won't leave without him," and it was clear Katniss would not be able to change Rues mind.


End file.
